Sheet-feeding mechanism



snnm' FEEDING usci'mur su Original Filed March 5. 1919 .BY W v74! ATTORNEYS.

Patented May 4, 1926.

- UNITED I STATES PATENT mu;

ALBERT M. PRICE, on ELGIILILL NoIs, ASSIGNOR To WM. witIGL Y JR. COMPANY,

or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA. I

SHEET-FEEDING MECHANISM.

Original application filed March 3, 1919, Serial No. 280,283. Divided and thisfapplication filed February 13, 1922. Serial No. 536,261. I i

To all whom it may] concern."

Be it known that I, ALBERT M. PRICE, citizen of the United States, residing at Elgin, in the county of Kane and State of 5 Illinois, have invented new and useful Imwith an outlets1ot' 115,'at thelower extrem provements in Sheet-Feeding Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to sheet feeding mechanism, and is particularly adaptable for use in connection with wrapping or labeling machines, to remove wrappers or labels one-by-one from a supply magazine and present them successively to the operatinginstrumentalities of the machine. f i

The general object of the invention is to provide an improved device of the above mentioned character'which is ofsimple and practical construction and which *is capable of operatingirapidly and in an eflicientfand reliable manner.

' A more specific object of *the invention is to provide an improved wrapper or label feeding device Which is particularly adapted for use in connection with the wrapping machine disclosed in a' c'opending application,

present application has been divided.

To the accomplishment of these ob ect-s and such others as may hereinafter appear, the invention comprises thefeatures and combinationsof parts and particuarly pointed out'in the'app ed claims, the advantages of whichwill be obvious to those skilled in the art. The various features of the invention will be best understood from a description of the preferred embodiment thereof, illus trated' in the accompanying drawings, in which,-' 1

'Fig. 1 is a view, partially inside elevation' and partially in vertieal longltudinal. section, of a' sheet feeding device constructed in ac cor'dance with the present invention;

v I V Fig. 2' is a sectional View taken on the line 2"-2 ofFig. 1'. 1 I Referring to the drawings," a magazine for containing a vertical stack of :labels-is indicated t 114. As shown,' the magazine 114 is open at its lower end and is provided rests thereon.

Serial No. 280,283, filed March3, 1919, 1 by the present inventor, and from which the in a bushing 120 secured in the hub 121 of a' fixed frame member while the rear end hereinafter described end- I intermeshing gearing. with the; washer structure ing roll 116 is located just below the outlet slot 115 and one end of the lowermost sheet adjacent the opposite side of the magazine and extends upwardly from a bracket 118, its pointed upper end penetrating the opposite end of the lowermost label. The needle 11? acts as an escap'ement toprevent more than one label from being dispensed atone time from the magazine. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the labels are successively fed by the dispensing roll1-16; -1nt-o the grip of a pair of feed rolls 14:6 and 147 which cooperate to carry. away from the magazine.

the labels The dispensing roll 116 is adapted to be rotated intermittently to feed the labels.

from the magazine. The construction of the dispensing roll and its controlling mechanism isbest shown in-Fig. 1. :A hollow shaft .119 is journaled at its front end of said hollow shaft is journaled in a stationary bearing hub 122. The shaft 119 is provided witha driving gear 128 which is The needle 117 is located secured'thereto, adjacent the hub 122, and is adapted to be connected, through suitable V a continuously rotating shaft. Within the hollow shaft 119 is iournaled a shaft 124'on which the 7 feed roll structure 116 is supported; This structure comprises a tube or sleeve 125 on which'are secured friction rolls 126 ofrubher or othersuitable material. The front end 127 of the shaft 124 is of reduced diameter, on which end a washer structure 128- is slidable, a compressionspring 129 encircling the washer and being held there in bythe washer 130 secured to the shaft endby the screw 131. Between the inner end of shaft 124 and thebase ,of the bore of shaft119, a eompression spring 132 is inserted which, tends to force the shaft 12a outwardly to carry its'shoulder 133' against 128 and to force this structure away from the outer end of the roll supporting sleeve 125 and thus to relieve the pressure of the sleeve 125 against the front end of the shaft 119 so that the sleeve with its friction rolls thereon will be entirely free and will remain at rest. To overcome the spring 132 and draw in the shaft 1% cam mechanism is provided. A cam disk"134 surrounds and is secured to the bushing 120 and has the cam ridge 135 for cooperating with the cam roller 136 journaled to the bifurcated frame 137 which straddles shaft 119 and has the lower ends,

of its limbs pivoted by pin 138 to the lower end of the bracket 139 secured to the'shaft 119 to rotate therewith; Extending between the limbs of the frame 137 is the pin 140 which extends through slots 141 in the walls of shaft 119 and diametrically through the inner shaft, 124.

In operation, whenever the cam roller 136 travels over the cam projection 135, the frame 137 will be swung rearwardly to draw in the shaft 12% and to cause the washer 130 to compress the spring 129 to force the Washer structure 128 against the sleeve 125 as soon as the shoulder 133. passes within the outer end of the sleeve, and then the pressure of the spring 129 will lock the sleeve 125 against the shaft 119 with sufli cient frictional engagement to force the sleeve to rotate with its shaft so that the friction rolls 126 will dispense a label from the label magazine. As soon as the cam roller 136 leaves the cam projection 135 the spring 132 will be free to force the shaft 124 outwardly until its shoulder 133 projects beyond the outer end of the sleeve 125 and holds the spring pressed washer structure 128 away from the outer end of the sleeve 125 and then the weight of the label stack on the rolls 126 will prevent rotation thereof.

The invention has been disclosed herein for illustrative purposes in what is now considered its preferred embodiment, but the scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination with a magazine for holding a stack of sheets, of a continuously rotating shaft below said stack, a sleeve journaled on said shaft and having a friction roll thereon for engaging with the lowermost sheets of the stack, devices on said shaft for engaging opposite ends of said sleeve, and means for periodically moving one of said devices relatively to the other to grip said sleeve between them to cause the latter to rotate with said shaft to successively shift sheets from said stack.

2. The combination with a vertical magazine, a sleeve on said supporting shaft having a friction roll thereon for engaging with the sheets, a hollow drive shaft through which said supporting shaft 1 extends, the rear end of said sleeve engaging the front end of said hollow drive shaft, an abutment at the frontend of said supporting shaftengaging the outer end of said sleeve, means for continuously driving said llO low shaft, means tending toshift said supporting shaft outwardly to disengage said abut ment from the outer end of said sleeve and thereby to release said sleeve from driven engagement with said hollow shaft, and cam mechanism associated with said sup iiorting shaft and operative to periodically shift said shaft inwardly to bring said abutmentagainst said sleeve and to frictional-1y engage said sleeve against said hollow shaft whereby to cause said sleeve to rotate with said hollow shaft to cause said rolls topro.- pel and dispense sheets from said magazine 3; The combination with a vertical magazine for holding. a stack of sheets of a continuously rotating hollow drive shaft, a supptn-ting shaft shiftable longitudinally in said hollow shaft with its front end extending therefrom below one side of the stack, a sleeve on said projecting end of the supporting shaft having a friction roll thereon on shaft, a spring within the hollow shaft act ing on said supporting shaft and tending to force it outwardly to release its abutment from said sleeve and to permit said sleeve to remain at rest while said shafts are turning a stationary cam rail, and a cam roller connected with said supporting shaft and cooperating with said rail to periodically shift said supporting shaft inwardly to force its outer abutment against the outer end of said sleeve to thereby frictionally engage theinner end of said sleeve with the outer end of said hollow shaft to cause said sleeve to rotate with said shafts.

4. The combination with a magazine for holding a stack of sheets, of a continuously rotating hollow shaft, a supporting shaft longitudinally slidable in but connected to rotate with said'hollow shaft, the front end of said supporting shaft projecting beyond said hollow shaft below said ma azine, a sleeve receiving the projecting en of said supporting shaft andcarrying a friction roll for supporting said stack andfor dispensing labels therefrom, an abutment member for the outer end of said sleeve, an abutment member at the outer end of said supporting shaft, a compression spring between said abutment members, a spring, tending to shift said supporting shaft outwardly su-fliciently to release said abutment mechanism from said sleeve thereby to permit said sleeve to remain at rest, a stationary cam rail surrounding said hollow shaft, and a cam roller connected with said supporting shaft andsheets.

5. The combination with ya magazine for holding a stack ofsheets, of a needle arranged to support one side of said stack, a dispensing roll for supporting another side of said stack, a continuously rotating supporting shaft for said roll, mechanism associated with said shaft and roll whereby the roll is periodically engaged and driven by said shaft.

6. The combination with a magazine adapted to contain a stack of sheets, said stack being under the influence of a force tending to continually advance the same through said magazine, of a needle at the delivery end of said magazine arranged to penetrate the sheets'at the advance end of the stack and thereby serve as a limiting stop for the advancing movement of said stack, a dispensing roll for engaging the foremost sheet of the stack, a continuously rotating shaft for supporting said roll, means associated with said shaft and roll for intermittently locking the roll to the shaft whereby the roll is rotated to feed a sheet from the stack.

7. The combination with a magazine for containing a stack of sheets, of a roll below said magazine for supporting one side of the stack and for dispensing the sheets therefrom, a driving shaft in axial alinement with said roll, means on said shaft for engaging one end of said sleeve to limit longitudinal movement of the sleeve in one direction, a yielding device on said shaft for engaging the opposite endof said sleeve, and mechanism for periodically actuating said device to grip'said sleeve between said device and said means to yieldingly connect said roll with said shaft.

8. The combination, in a magazine of the type wherein a stack of sheets is continuous- 1y acted upon by a force tending to advance the stack through the magazine, of a needle arranged to penetrate thesheets at the forward end of the stack, a continuously rotating shaft'adjacent the discharge end of the magazine,a roll journaled on and supported by said shaft for engaging the foremost sheet of the stack and cooperating with said needle to limit the advance of the stack under the influence of said force, and means for periodically connecting said roll to rotate with said shaft to successively feed single sheets from the magazine.

9. The combination, in a magazine of the type wherein a stack of sheets is continuously acted upon by a force tending to advance the stack through the magazine, of a needle arranged to penetrate the sheets at the forward end of the stack, a continuously driven shaft adjacent the discharge end of the magazine, a dispensing roll journalled on said shaft adjacent the discharge end of the magazine for engaging the endmost sheet of the stack to limit the advance of the stack under the influence of said force, said roll having a continuous gripping surface extending throughout its periphery, and means for intermittently connecting said shaft and roll for actuating said roll to successively feed sheets from the magazine.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature.

. ALBERT M. PRICE. 

